Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wisconsin Civil War Hero gets Medal of Honor 147 years later

So, 147 years after Wisconsin's troops saved the union, another forgotten local hero from that conflict surfaces to get his belated medal of honor. On the third day at Gettysburg, there was Picketts Charge. The very focus of this great massed assault was the forward guns of Alonzo Cushing, better known as the Beloit Battery. The tip of the great southern wave crashed into and over these Wisconsin guns. By then, Cushing and his fellow gunners were dead or lying on the ground, badly wounded. The painting above, one of many that depict this moment, shows the southern traitor...I mean General...Lewis Armistead valiantly leading his men over the battery. Confederate high tide and yet another painting celebrating all things lost cause. The assault pretty much ended right there - at Cushings guns. The outcome of the battle was determined well before the charge - Wisconsin's Iron Brigade stopped an entire rebel corps in it's tracks and denied the southern army certain victory. Picketts charge was a last ditch desperate effort and a criminal waste of lives. The painting doesn't show the mortally wounded Cushing and his wrecked battery mowing down rows and rows of advancing rebels. No...all we get is a deluded southern fool with a hat at the end of his sword climbing atop a cannon. Madness. Delusion. Here's the article, I added all things parenthetical...

DELAFIELD, Wis. – Seven score and seven years ago, a wounded Wisconsin soldier stood his ground on the Gettysburg battlefield and made a valiant stand before he was felled by a Confederate bullet.Now, thanks to the dogged efforts of modern-day supporters, 1st Lt. Alonzo Cushing shall not have died in vain, nor shall his memory have perished from the earth.Descendants and some Civil War history buffs have been pushing the U.S. Army to award the soldier the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration. They'll soon get their wish.Secretary of the Army John McHugh has approved their request, leaving a few formal steps before the award becomes official this summer. Cushing will become one of 3,447 recipients of the medal, and the second from the Civil War honored in the last 10 years.It's an honor that's 147 years overdue, said Margaret Zerwekh. The 90-year-old woman lives on the land in Delafield where Cushing was born, and jokes she's been adopted by the Cushing family for her efforts to see Alonzo recognized."I was jumping up and down when I heard it was approved," said Zerwekh, who walks with two canes. "I was terribly excited."Cushing died on July 3, 1863, the last day of the three-day battle of Gettysburg. He was 22.The West Point graduate and his men of the Battery A, 4th U.S. Artillery were defending the Union position on Cemetery Ridge against Pickett's Charge, a major Confederate thrust that could have turned the tide in the war.Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was planning an invasion of the North; both sides knew how important this engagement was.Cushing commanded about 110 men and six cannons. His small force along with reinforcements stood their ground under artillery bombardment as nearly 13,000 Confederate infantrymen waited to advance."Clap your hands as fast as you can — that's as fast as the shells are coming in," said Scott Hartwig, a historian with the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. "They were under terrific fire."The bombardment lasted two hours. Cushing was wounded in the shoulder and groin, and his battery was left with two guns and no long-range ammunition. His stricken battery should have been withdrawn and replaced with reserve forces, Hartwig said, but Cushing shouted that he would take his guns to the front lines."What that means is, 'While I've got a man left to fight, I'll fight,'" Hartwig said. Within minutes, he was killed by a Confederate bullet to the head.Confederate soldiers advanced into the Union fire, but finally retreated with massive casualties. The South never recovered from the defeat.The soldier's bravery so inspired one Civil War history buff that he took up Cushing's cause by launching a Facebook page titled "Give Alonzo Cushing the Medal of Honor." Phil Shapiro, a 27-year-old Air Force captain, said such heroism displayed in one of the nation's most pivotal battles deserved recognition, even at this late date."We need to honor those people who got our country to where it is," said Shapiro, of Cabot, Ark.Zerwekh first started campaigning for Cushing in 1987 by writing to Wisconsin Sen. William Proxmire. Proxmire entered comments into the Congressional Record, she said, and she assumed that was as far as it would go. But current Sen. Russ Feingold (Thanks Russ, and take FLW off of your ad) later pitched in and helped Zerwekh and others petition the Army.After a lengthy review of historical records, the Army agreed earlier this year to recommend the medal.More than 1,500 soldiers from the Civil War have received the Medal of Honor, according to the Defense Department. The last honoree for Civil War service was Cpl. Andrew Jackson Smith of Clinton, Ill., who received the medal in 2001.The Cushing name is prominent in the southeastern Wisconsin town of Delafield. A monument to Cushing and two of his brothers — Naval Cmdr. William Cushing and Army 1st Lt. Howard Cushing — stands at Cushing Memorial Park, where the town holds most of its Memorial Day celebrations.Shapiro, the Facebook fan, said he thought of Alonzo Cushing plenty of times last year as he faced a number of dangerous situations during a five-month stint in Iraq."I'd think about what Cushing accomplished, what he was able to deal with at age 22," Shapiro said. "I thought if he could do that then I can certainly deal with whatever I'm facing."

1 comment:

I just read this article and your "comments" above it. As a Southerner, born and raised I must say I take great offense at two of your comments:

"The painting above, one of many that depict this moment, shows the southern traitor...I mean General...Lewis Armistead valiantly leading his men over the battery."

and:

"No...all we get is a deluded southern fool with a hat at the end of his sword climbing atop a cannon. Madness."

I suggest you get your facts straight before making such comments. Lewis Addison Armistead was a brave man who served in the U.S. Army as an officer including in combat in the Mexican American War where he was also wounded.

The man suffered many tragedies in his life, the destruction of his families home and all their possessions by fire (pre CW), the death of two wives and his only two children.

When the South succeeded he, as did many others, went with his native state of North Carolina. You must understand that in those days in the south your state of birth was considered to be "your country". Upon leaving he made this comment to his friend Winfield Scott Hancock: "Goodby; you can never know what this has cost me."

He was torn, leaving the service of the Army and country he'd fought and been wounded for, close and dear friends but to follow what he and his peers considered a higher calling.

During the charge you refer to in the painting where you refer to him as a fool, he let his unit farther than all the others. It was known as the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy." He was also wounded, albeit not what the doctors considered seriously. But he then learned that his dear friend Hancock had been in command of that part of the line and had also been wounded. Armistead did two days later of fever and what many consider to have been a broken heart.

He served both the U.S. and then the Confederacy with honor. He certainly does not deserve to be called a fool. As to being called a traitor, those in the North would consider him as such but to those in the South he was and is, rightfully a hero of that war so long ago.

Again, before you make such comments you might consider doing a bit of research to fully understand what you are talking about, and you might also consider how your words might affect others. As a Southerner I'm offended by the fact that the cause our ancestors fought and often died for and indeed our history as a whole has been attacked and denigrated for so many years now. Seems everyone is entitled to their proud heritage except those from the South. Shame on everyone who takes such a view. I do not in any way condone slavery yet you'll find, if you truly study the Civil War that most Southerners were not fighting for slavery but for states rights and the freedom to live their lives as they saw fit without the dictates of the Federal government. How little things have changed.